The Yard Sale
by Radioactive Nerd
Summary: Season 3 episode 6. There is too much junk in the Brown household so Clara decides to get rid of it.


Author's Note: In the first Back to the Future movie, we see that Doc's lab/garage is filled up with a lot of stuff. Emmett Brown is definatly a pack rat and a disorganized person and I got to thinking that Clara would not find this a turn on. All wives chew their husbands out for all the junk that piles up over the years and that includes Doc and Clara.

Disclaimer: Back to the Future: the Animated Series does not belong to me. It should still be on T.V. though.

Hill Valley, California

July 9, 1992

9:45 AM

Clara had woken up after the two alarm clocks went off but allowed herself to sleep an extra five minutes. She and Doc usually got up at the crack of dawn together but Clara was off since school ended for the year so there wasn't really a reason to be up that early. Her husband however, bolted out of bed the instant the clock struck 5:00.

Clara dressed herself and went down the stairs. She had to bake a cake for the Hill Valley Bake-Off in two days and wipe the smug smile off of that Eliza Wilson. Eliza Wilson was a teacher whom Clara worked with and disliked. Eliza was rich and spoiled her children, plus she was "perfect". Eliza was also a "mean girl" and often gossiped about Clara and her "abnormal family" right in front of Clara's face. Naturally, Clara wanted to stun her.

As she walked down the stairs, Clara thought about the right recipe for an amazing cake. She was brought out of her thoughts when she tripped over one of Doc's automated vaccumms.

"Golly," Clara said as she rubbed her knee. She looked around the living room in annoyance. Lately the Brown household had been filled to the brim with junk. Clara's stuff, Jules' stuff, Verne's stuff, and _especially_ Emmett's stuff was crowding all around them. Sometimes it seemed that the house was going to blow! Clara was constantly tripping over things (like now) and was tired of calling after the boys to pick up their stuff. Doc, even though he was a genus, often was too distracted and absent-minded about putting away his things or even bothering to throw some of it out. Her husband was a pack rat and just wouldn't part with any of the junk.

The kitchen was just as bad as the living room. Extra pots and pans, cooking devices Doc had invented, wires, and basic clutter prevented Clara from getting around to baking that cake.

That did it.

Clara was fed up with all this clutter and she found the door and stormed to the lab. Doc, Jules, and Verne were in there helping their father. The lab was perhaps the most messy place in the entire town! Junk from Doc's past was everywhere and in the way.

"Emmett there's something we need to talk about!" Clara said but once again she tripped over a piece of junk and completely fell onto her back. Doc had looken up when she spoke and rushed over to help her up.

"Clara are you hurt?" Doc asked as he got her to her feet. Clara tried to stand up but winced when she tried her right ankle. It started to throb with pain as she struggled to remain balanced. Doc put his arm around her so she wouldn't fall and guided her over to a chair.

"I think I sprained my ankle," Clara said and then she remembered what she came in the lab for. "Emmett there is too much junk in the house!"

"But I took out the garbage last night," Doc said. He had gotten the first aid kit and was examining his wife's ankle. It was indeed sprained.

"I don't mean garbage," Clara began, wincing again as her husband put an ice pack on her ankle. "We just have too many things and not enough space. Most of the junk are things we don't even need and I'm tired of tripping over it. We're having a yard sale!"

"What's a yard sale?" Verne asked.

"It is a event in which families sell unwanted items to neighbors whom want to purchase it. Usually a sale like this is done when the families wish to dispose of belongings." Jules explained and Verne's eyes widened.

"Hold up Mom!" Verne protested. "I don't want to sell my stuff!"

"Neither do I," Jules piped up.

"Don't you two act selfish," Clara scolded. "We are doing this and no ifs, ands, or buts!"

"But…" Doc began.

Clara gave Doc one of the coldest stares in the history of their marriage. Usually she didn't have such a short fuse but she had decided enough was enough. Doc was perplexed and a little annoyed but he didn't wish to contradict her. Especially since one of his inventions caused her to sprain her ankle.

Hill Valley, California

June 9, 1992

12:57 PM

The brown family had spent most of the morning preparing for the yard sale. Jules and Verne were assigned to make posters advertising the sale and put them around town. Marty had been called over so he could work the cash register Emmett had lying around and keep track of the money. No one really cared about how much money they'd make because Clara just wanted to get rid of the junk. Doc had insisted that Clara go lay down so she could rest her ankle but she (the strong western woman she was) refused. She and Doc spent hours gathering all the junk out of the house and onto the front lawn.

"Mother, Father, we are going to post the signs we self-manufactured!" Jules yelled as he and Verne exited the house. Verne had suggested that they go to Courthouse square because that's where the most people were and would see their signs. The two boys manged to plaster half of the square with yard sale signs.

"I can't believe Mother made me surrender my microscope," Jules said as Verne stood on his shoulders to put a sign on a high window.

"You mean the one that had the cracked lense?" Verne said as he hopped to the ground.

"Affirmative. But it was my first microscope and a darn good one! I could have replaced the lense." Jules vented. He had surrendered many of his things that he hadn't even touched in years but had value to him. Verne felt the same way.

"Yeah and Mom made me give up my old cowboy hat," Verne sighed. "I used to wear that thing a lot before I got my coon skin cap but I still sorta liked it…"

The boys walked home silently after that.

Meanwhile back at the Brown family house, Clara was in the lab with Doc sorting through his things. Two piles were before them: one of things to KEEP and one with things to SELL. So far nothing had been put in the sell pile.

"Emmett I already gave up half of my things now it's your turn," Clara said as she hobbled up to him with her crutches. "Keep half and give away half, that was our agreement."

"I have full knowledge of that Clara," Doc said as he picked up a burnt 1950's toy car. He fiddled with it with his fingers, remembering the Courthouse Sqaure model he created to demonstrate one of his greatest experiments. However he was surprised that he had kept it all these years. "I wish to keep this though."

"Emmett you're a little old to play with toy cars," Clara said.

"It is the representation of a memoriable and somewhat hilarious moment in my past and I don't think a child of today will want to purchase a burnt toy." Doc explained.

"Okay that you can keep," Clara said with a slight smile. "How about this?"

It was the mind-reading helmet.

"Keep," Doc said. The new mind-reading machine he had accidently become the mind-switching machine and he didn't want to quit on the helmet even after amost forty years.

"This?" Clara asked.

The automatic dog feeder.

"Keep, it is still quite useful," Doc said. "Right Einy?" Doc's fateful dog barked in return.

"This?" Clara asked.

An old record player.

"Sell," Doc answered.

It went on like that for about two more hours with Clara holding up or gesturing to an object and Doc replying "Keep" or "Sell". Actually Doc was willing to get rid of more nostalgic junk than Clara had expected. When they finished, the lab was a lot less cluttered than it had been originally. Clara smiled approvingly at their hard work and poured her husband and herself some lemonade.

"To a clutter-free lab," Clara toasted and they clinked glasses. They both looked around and relaxed a bit. Clara's ankle was giving her a lot of pain though and it had made her lose concentration during the day. She and Doc drained their glasses and Clara rose to continue work.

"Last thing I need to do is put "for sale" stickers on everything and we can start the sale," Clara said and then noticed that her husband was doing an odd dance.

"Of course Clara dear but first I need to use the facilities," Doc said as he rushed off. "Lemonade goes straight through my system every time."

The phone rang and Clara answered it. She talked on it while she put the "for sale" stickers on everything in the SELL pile and around the lab.

"No she isn't!" Clara said into the phone as she put a sticker on the record player. "Eliza is NOT going to win the bake-off. For one thing, she's planning to make carrot cake and that is a preferred taste and for another my chocolate cake is unbeatable."

Clara was in the middle of putting a bunch of stickers on a row of items to sell (the DeLorean is at the end of the row) when her friend told her something incredible.

"WHAT?!" Clara shouted into the phone as she slammed a sticker on the last of the row. "Eliza isn't making carrot cake she's making chocolate cake? She stole that idea from me! Now what am I going to do…"

Clara continued the conversation as she hobbled out of the lab for a second. She was so distracted about the cake dilema that she failed to notice that the last sticker was placed on something that wasn't ever, ever going to be sold or even revealed to the public. A red "for sale" sticker was stuck wrongly on the DeLorean time machine.

The Brown family and Marty were surprised to see that a lot of people had actually come to the yard sale. They saw a lot of townsfolk they recognized and even Biff and Dean Strictland had come!

"Hey Doc check it out," Marty whispered as he pointed to Strictland, whom was observing a curious invention with the usual frown. "Strictland's here!"

As if on cue, Strictland came over to the table in which Marty was working the cash register. He fancied Marty with an unfathomable nod and Doc with a scowl.

"Good afternoon Doctor Brown," Strictland said in a tone of forced politeness. Doc gave a false smile before Strictland turned his attention to Marty, whom braced himself for crude remarks.

"I would like to purchase this for my sister," Strictland said as he held up the record player. "How much?"

"Ten dollars," Marty said briskly and Strictland got out his wallet. The man put down a ten dollar bill and Marty put it into the register silently. As he picked up the record player, Strictland faced the two friends, opened his mouth as if to say something harsh, but just turned and walked away. Marty reacted with obvious surprise at this.

"Wow, no insult or anything!" Marty said.

The Brown family was certainly kept busy. Jules was in the process of showing some of his science gear to two nerdy-looking kids, Verne was trying to shoo people away from his table so no one would buy his stuff without much luck, Doc and Clara were trying to show off some of their stuff to a group of people like they were doing a commercial. They all were so busy that none of them noticed Biff wander into Doc's lab.

"This must be where all the good stuff is," Biff said as he looked around the lab. He saw Doc's clock collection, inventions, projects, and computers but none of that interested him. It wasn't until Biff was going to exit the lab when something caught his eye.

"Is that a DeLorean?" Biff wondered aloud and walked over to the sports-car-turned-time-machine. He checked the tires, stainless steel covering, and the inside of the car. He knew he wanted it and was happy when he saw the red for sale sticker.

"Only ten bucks? Brown's not so smart after all," Biff said as he took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. Then he climbed into the time machine and fiddled with a few of its colorful buttons and levers. Accidently, Biff set the time circuits for 3000 B.C. before backing out of the lab and speeded up to 88.

"Verne did you hear that?" Jules asked after three loud sonic booms sounded through the land.

"Yeah it sounded like the DeLorean," Verne said and the two brothers left their tables and went over to their parents and Marty. They all rushed to the lab and saw that the world's first time machine was gone! Marty spied a note on the ground and picked it up to read aloud.

"I.O.U. Butthead," Marty read and he and Doc shared a look and said together: "Biff."

"Biff Tannan took the DeLorean...again!" Clara said as her husband went over to the other side of the lab to fetch a handheld invention. It sort of looked like a PDA but had an antenna and more controls.

"Don't fret, we'll be able to track Biff with this device," Doc said as he pressed a few buttons on his invention. "It will display where and when Biff is with the DeLorean, sort of like a tracker. Galloping Galileo! Biff is in prehistoric Hill Valley!"

Doc and Marty went down to the lab's cellar and boarded the time train. Jules and Verne wanted to come along but Doc said no because it could get dangerous. Clara stayed with them and wished her husband and Marty luck. The train rocketed into the sky and dissapeared with a flash of light.

Hill Valley, California

July 9, 3000 B.C.

4:55 PM

Biff Tannan was speeding in the sky of the prehistoric town. Not only did the fact that the sports car could fly shock him but that he was flying over a bunch of grazing dinosaur's really was astonishing. Brown must have tricked out this car so it could imposible science-fictiony things! What a sweet find.

Just then Biff looked in his rearview mirror and saw that a old-looking train was flying behind him. It was trying to get closer and closer, as if sneaking up on Biff.

"I see him Doc!" Marty yelled with his head out of the train's window. "He's trying to get away from us! We should speed up to keep on his tail!"

"Affirmative," Doc said and worked the controls.

"Trying to tail me huh Brown?" Biff said as he pressed some random buttons on the time circuits. "Let's see how fast that stupid train of yours can go!"

The DeLorean vanished and left two trails of fire in the sky. Marty slammed his fist down on a piece of metal, mad that they almost caught him. Doc checked the locating device and saw that Biff was in New York in 1930.

"We're heading to the 30's Marty!" Doc said and they accelerated to 88.

New York, New York

July 9, 1930

9:57 PM

"I'm gonna try and jump on the DeLorean," Marty said as he tied a cord around his waist. They were very high about the city of New York with its lights underneath but they could see the outline of the DeLorean in front of them, desperatly trying to lose them.

"Marty that's too dangerous," Doc insisted but Marty was already pulling open the door, feeling the wind whip his face.

"Nothing more dangerous than anything we've done already!" Marty shouted over the roar of the wind. "We need to get a little closer!"

The time train speeded up (carefully so as not to get to 88) and managed to get right on the bumper of the DeLorean. Marty gave a thumbs up to Doc and then jumped off the time train and onto the DeLorean. He landed hard on the roof of the car and held onto it with all of his might. Quickly, Marty managed to climb in though the passenger's window and into the seat.

"McFly?!" Biff said as Marty entered the car. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Stoping you!" Marty said as he knocked the Tannan unconscious with the alpha sleep inducer. The teen took the wheel and set the time circuits to present day Hill Valley so they could go home. Marty stomped on the acceleration pedal and hit 88.

Hill Valley, California

July 9, 1992

7:30 PM

Clara was in the now-clean living room with her two sons. They were watching a movie that was on the t.v. about a little boy whom befriends an alien but Clara wasn't paying as much attention as the boys. She was worried.

Her husband and Marty had been gone for three hours and they hadn't heard anything from them. It was all her fault too that Biff had took the time machine. _She _was the one that had accidently put the "for sale" sticker on the DeLorean and therefore _she _was the one who would feel extremely guilty if Emmett and Marty got lost in the time stream or hurt. If Emmett got hurt it would be all her fault and she considered Marty a third son so if he got hurt she would never forgive herself.

_I should have never lost my cool and forced this yard sale on everyone. _Clara thought. _This would have never happened and they would be safe at home. _

The moment the grandfather clock in the living room struck 7:32, Clara and the boys saw a flash of light outside and heard the sonic booms.

"Dad!" Jules and Verne shouted as they rushed outside. The two boys saw the DeLorean slow down by the front yard and come to a halt. The gull wing door opened and Marty stepped out, lugging Biff as he walked over to Clara and the boys.

"Hey you guys got him!" Verne said happily.

"Yep," Marty said as he dropped Biff on the ground. "I knocked him out with that alpha sleep thing Doc got. Hey, where is the Doc anyway?"

"Y-you mean he's not with you?" Clara asked unsteadily and tears started to form in her eyes. She had thought Doc was with Marty in the DeLorean but Marty didn't know his whereabouts either.

"No," Marty answered, looking up at the sky to see if the time train was coming. "We split up in 1930 but I didn't see him when I was in the DeLorean wrestling Biff. He should have been right behind us-"

Marty didn't get to finish his sentence because Clara suddenly burst into tears. She hid her face in her hands as she sobbed and shook her head back and forth. Clara said Doc's name a few times and kept saying that it was her fault.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The time train appeared on the tracks a distance away from where the group was. Einstien started barking and Clara brought her tear-stained face out of her hands. Doc jumped off the train and hurried over to his family.

"Marty did you succeed?" Doc asked.

"Emmett!" Clara said and hugged her husband.

"Clara what's wrong?" Doc asked when he realized she had been crying.

"You weren't with Marty so I thought the worst," Clara said as the boys took their turn to hug their father. "Emmett I want to apologize. It's all my fault that Biff got ahold of the DeLorean and you and Marty had to go galloping off through time to get it back. I created all this stress with the yard sale and it just caused more problems for everyone so I'm sorry."

"It's all right Mom," Verne piped up and Jules and Doc agreed with him. Later, Doc used one of his machines to erase Biff's memory so the man had no recollection of the whole time travel adventure at all. Marty drove Biff home and put the enemy on the porch so Biff would think he nodded off. The Brown family and Marty had supper and Jules counted up the money from the yard sale.

"Hey mom, pop, we're rich!" Verne shouted as he ran into the kitchen.

"Not as wealthy as you think brother," Jules corrected as he walked in the kitchen, with a pad of paper and a pen in hand. "We gained 150.00, which is not as much money as you think."

"Nonsense Jules," Doc said. "150 american dollars is actually quite a bundle for us. It is a good reason to celebrate!"

END


End file.
